TAKE TWO

A snoopy New York television producer stumbles upon yet another murder.

Sonya Iverson has deadly good timing. Her latest story assignment—covering the anniversary of Woody’s, a local thrift store—seems like another puff piece for The Donna Fuller Show. But as she digs deeper into the history of the Woodruffs, the family that underwrites the charity operation, Sonya finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. Hilda, the family matriarch, has launched a campaign to oust the current family management and install her son at the helm of the Woodruff publishing empire. Her schemes are postponed when Gussie, the long-time manager of Woody’s, is murdered days before the star-studded anniversary bash. Almost every Woodruff has a motive for murdering Gussie, the keeper of family secrets. In addition to tight-lipped witnesses, Sonya runs up against her old foe Matt, the pushy executive producer who wants her off the story. But Sonya—refusing to back down, even at the risk of losing her job—uncovers abandoned children, illicit affairs, gambling debts and more. Before she can wrap up the case, another victim turns up at Woody’s. In a disappointingly anticlimactic ending, Sonya comes up with the killer.

All the zip of CNN fashion reporter Klensch’s first two novels (Shooting Script, 2005, etc.) has left the room. Perhaps the cast is too old and tired to stir up her famously stylish imagination.